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 Hillary Clinton is expected to launch her White House bid later
this month, while Elizabeth Warren, the senator known for her fiery
anti-Wall Street rhetoric, repeated this week that she is not
seeking the Democratic nomination.
But she and her supporters have vowed to make sure that populist
economic ideas feature prominently on Clinton’s agenda should the
former secretary of state be the party's nominee.
Warren’s backers are already fanning out in the early-voting states
of Iowa and New Hampshire to push Clinton to shift toward economic
populism and away from the pro-business policies of her husband,
former President Bill Clinton.
Activists told Reuters they plan to show up at town halls and
rallies to publicly call on Clinton to adopt policies such as
breaking up big banks and expanding the Social Security retirement
program. (Graphic: http://reut.rs/1Dw6iwc)
"What we are trying to do is incentivize Hillary Clinton and anyone
else who may chose to run for president to campaign on many of the
economic populist issues that Elizabeth Warren and others have
championed," said Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign
Committee, a grassroots pro-Warren group.
Warren vowed on MSNBC on Wednesday to press Clinton – and any other
candidates – to tackle issues such as student loan affordability and
stricter oversight of Wall Street.
“I’m going to push everybody. Do I not look like I’m going to push?”
said Warren, whose stark critiques of big business have endeared her
to her party’s left wing.
But comments like that rile Clinton supporters, who bristle at the
notion that the former first lady needs to hew to Warren’s message
in order to prove her populist credentials.
Neera Tanden, who served as policy adviser to Clinton’s 2008
campaign, said Clinton had embraced the fight for economic fairness
“long before” Warren.
For example, Clinton was the first to call for regulation of
subprime mortgages in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, Tanden
said.
Bill Daley, who served as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff
and commerce secretary under Bill Clinton, was more blunt in an
interview with Reuters.
“I think she’s as much jumping on the band wagon as anything, as
opposed to driving the bus,” Daley said of Warren.
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INCOME INEQUALITY
Clinton, the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination,
has yet to spell out specifics of her economic agenda. During her
failed 2008 White House bid, Clinton surrounded herself with
centrists from Bill Clinton’s administration, such as investment
banker Roger Altman, and progressives like Tanden, now head of the
Center for American Progress think tank in Washington.
Speaking at a CAP panel with Tanden last month, Clinton gave a nod
to economic populism by talking of the importance of addressing
inequality, which has been on the rise since the 1990s, when Bill
Clinton was president.
But the former U.S. senator from New York has said little about how
she would approach Wall Street regulation, nor has she weighed in on
whether she would expand programs such as Social Security, an idea
that is viewed warily by Democratic deficit hawks.
The pressure from Warren is likely to loom over Clinton’s campaign.
Ignoring Warren and her supporters could risk alienating
progressives in the Democratic party whose energy and enthusiasm
Clinton needs to launch a successful White House bid.
Still, if Clinton moves too far left, she could alienate wealthy
Democratic donors and independent voters who are unenthusiastic
about Warren and would be turned off by an economic message that
emphasizes class warfare.
Robert Reich, who served as Bill Clinton’s labor secretary and has
urged Warren to run for president, said he was concerned that
without a challenger, Clinton might not feel as strongly inclined to
embrace a progressive economic agenda.
"I think the real question is: will she, if she feels no pressure to
do so?" Reich said.
(Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson, editing by Caren Bohan
and Ross Colvin)
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